Issued:
2009-09-29
Updated:
2010-02-24

RHSA-2009:1455 - Moderate: kernel security and bug fix update

Synopsis

Moderate: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Moderate

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix one security issue and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

[Updated 23rd February 2010] This update adds references to two KBase articles that includes greater detail regarding some bug fixes that could not be fully documented in the errata note properly.

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

Security fix:

  • a NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Multiple Devices (md) driver in the Linux kernel. If the "suspend_lo" or "suspend_hi" file on the sysfs file system ("/sys/") is modified when the disk array is inactive, it could lead to a local denial of service or privilege escalation. Note: By default, only the root user can write to the files noted above. (CVE-2009-2849, Moderate)

Bug fixes:

  • a bug in nlm_lookup_host() could lead to un-reclaimed file system locks, resulting in umount failing & NFS service relocation issues for clusters. (BZ#517967)

  • a bug in the sky2 driver prevented the phy from being reset properly on some hardware when it hung, preventing a link from coming back up. (BZ#517976)

  • disabling MSI-X for qla2xxx also disabled MSI interrupts. (BZ#519782)

  • performance issues with reads when using the qlge driver on PowerPC systems. A system hang could also occur during reboot. (BZ#519783)

  • unreliable time keeping for Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines. The KVM pvclock code is now used to detect/correct lost ticks. (BZ#520685)

  • /proc/cpuinfo was missing flags for new features in supported processors, possibly preventing the operating system & applications from getting the best performance. (BZ#520686)

  • reading/writing with a serial loopback device on a certain IBM system did not work unless booted with "pnpacpi=off". (BZ#520905)

  • mlx4_core failed to load on systems with more than 32 CPUs. (BZ#520906)

  • on big-endian platforms, interfaces using the mlx4_en driver & Large Receive Offload (LRO) did not handle VLAN traffic properly (a segmentation fault in the VLAN stack in the kernel occurred). (BZ#520908)

  • due to a lock being held for a long time, some systems may have experienced "BUG: soft lockup" messages under heavy load. (BZ#520919)

  • incorrect APIC timer calibration may have caused a system hang during boot, as well as the system time becoming faster or slower. A warning is now provided. (BZ#521238)

  • a Fibre Channel device re-scan via 'echo "---" > /sys/class/scsi_host/ host[x]/scan' may not complete after hot adding a drive, leading to soft lockups ("BUG: soft lockup detected"). (BZ#521239)

  • the Broadcom BCM5761 network device could not to be initialized properly; therefore, the associated interface could not obtain an IP address via DHCP or be assigned one manually. (BZ#521241)

  • when a process attempted to read from a page that had first been accessed by writing to part of it (via write(2)), the NFS client needed to flush the modified portion of the page out to the server, & then read the entire page back in. This flush caused performance issues. (BZ#521244)

  • a kernel panic when using bnx2x devices & LRO in a bridge. A warning is now provided to disable LRO in these situations. (BZ#522636)

  • the scsi_dh_rdac driver was updated to recognize the Sun StorageTek Flexline 380. (BZ#523237)

  • in FIPS mode, random number generators are required to not return the first block of random data they generate, but rather save it to seed the repetition check. This update brings the random number generator into conformance. (BZ#523289)

  • an option to disable/enable the use of the first random block is now provided to bring ansi_cprng into compliance with FIPS-140 continuous test requirements. (BZ#523290)

  • running the SAP Linux Certification Suite in a KVM guest caused severe SAP kernel errors, causing it to exit. (BZ#524150)

  • attempting to 'online' a CPU for a KVM guest via sysfs caused a system crash. (BZ#524151)

  • when using KVM, pvclock returned bogus wallclock values. (BZ#524152)

  • the clock could go backwards when using the vsyscall infrastructure. (BZ#524527)

See References for KBase links re BZ#519782 & BZ#520906.

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. Reboot the system for this update to take effect.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support5.4ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support5.4s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i386.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.src.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-164.2.1.el5.ppc64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information